Breeders' Cup | Horse Racing Free Tips

Golden Pal Proves Deserving Favorite To Give Ward Back-To-Back Wins In Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint

Not all brilliant racemares are able to pass on their talents to their offspring, but it's really something special when they do. That was the case on Friday afternoon at Keeneland, when Golden Pal delivered redemption for his dam in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint as the 4-5 favorite in a field of 14 2-year-olds.

Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) is the first foal out of Randal Lowe's homebred Lady Shipman, who ran second in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in 2015, the last time the World Championships were held at Keeneland. Racing for Lowe, Golden Pal went one better with a front-running 3/4-length triumph over Cowan (11-1).

Golden Pal is named in honor of owner/breeder Lowe's mentor, John C. Mabee. Mabee operated Golden Eagle Farm, and his best horse was Best Pal, hence Golden Pal. The colt is 35-year industry veteran Lowe's first winner in the Breeders' Cup.

It was the second straight victory in the Juvenile Turf Sprint for trainer Wesley Ward, who won the race last year with Four Wheel Drive. Coming off a win in the previous race, the TAA Stakes with Rocketry, jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. piloted Golden Pal through the 5 1/2 furlong contest over Keeneland's “good” turf course and stopped the clock in 1:02.82.

Golden Pal out-broke the rest of the field at the start, leaping out to a two-length advantage in the backstretch. Ortiz tried for a sixteenth of a mile to gently ease the colt back off the bridle, but before the half-mile pole the jockey had to reach down and grab the reins hard to slow Golden Pal down. Even with the head-tossing and giving up his early lead, Golden Pal marked the first quarter in 21.62 seconds.

Stablemate Blame the Booze was also prominently placed early, but Golden Pal surged ahead by the quarter pole to again have a two-length lead over the rest of the field.

Meanwhile, Ubettabelieveit totally missed the break and spotted the field several lengths out of the gate. The Nigel Tinkler-trained colt wove through the field around the bend and was making up a ton of ground in the stretch.

Cowan also came from off the pace, inching into Golden Pal's lead in the final strides to nab second, beaten three-quarters of a length for trainer Steve Asmussen and jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. Ubettabelieveit rallied to finish another 1 3/4 lengths back in third, while Lipzzaner was fourth.

“He's just amazing,” Ward said of the winner. “I got a little worried on the backside. Irad kind of lost a little momentum there and took a pretty good hold of him, but then he just accelerated down the lane. When he accelerated past the quarter-pole, I knew we were O.K. I got a little worried on the last part and was hugging onto my son, but we got there. He's a champion colt. Thank God (Randy Lowe) gave him to me to train. I really appreciate it. (Next year's Breeders' Cup) is where we're heading, but first we're going to Royal Ascot. Here we come. He's going to get them this year!”

Bred in Florida by owner Randall Lowe, Golden Pal is out of the Midshipman mare Lady Shipman. The 13-time winner earned over $900,000 on the track, including multiple Grade 1 placings.

Her first colt finished second in his debut at Gulfstream in April, then traveled to Royal Ascot and was just beaten a neck in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes in June. Waiting until August to run Golden Pal again, Ward sent him out to finally break his maiden in the listed Skidmore Stakes at Saratoga. After giving his owner Lowe a first Breeders' Cup victory, Golden Pal's record stands at two wins and two seconds from four starts for earnings of $623,056.

Lowe said the colt will be given a break before coming back to Keeneland in April, then pointing to the Group 1 King's Stand at Royal Ascot and the Group 1 Nunthorpe after that, before a return to the Breeders' Cup next fall.

The post Golden Pal Proves Deserving Favorite To Give Ward Back-To-Back Wins In Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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‘Grit And Toughness’ Have Propelled Come Dancing To Breeders’ Cup Swansong

Ending a career by winning a championship is a goal for many athletes, though only a select few have been able to conclude their career with a historic effort.

The ones who do stand out. Joe DiMaggio ending his career after winning his ninth World Series with the Yankees in 1951 is near the top of any going-out-on-top moments. Rocky Marciano capped his career the way he ended every single one of his professional bouts, with the then 32-year-old walking away after posting a 49-0 record and holding the heavyweight championship for nearly four years. Across other sports, from NFL Hall of Famer John Elway winning back-to-back Supers Bowls to NHL superstar Jean Béliveau winning his 10th Stanley Cup and taking off the sweater in 1971, there have been special finales.

On Saturday, Blue Devil Racing Stable's Come Dancing will run the 19th and final race of a storied career that has already featured five graded stakes wins. The Carlos Martin trainee will look to give her connections one final memory when she competes in Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint going seven furlongs on Keeneland Race Course's main track.

The 6-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon has given owner Marc Holliday, and New York racing fans, plenty of thrills, starting with her 7 ¾-length romp in the 2019 Grade 3 Distaff at Aqueduct Racetrack, earning a 114 Beyer Speed Figure. From there, she dominated the Grade 2 Ruffian, winning the one-mile contest over a sloppy track by 6 ¾ lengths in May 2019. Her next start saw her run second to eventual Eclipse Award Champion Older Dirt Female Midnight Bisou in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on Belmont Stakes Day.

Not to be deterred, Come Dancing then rattled off back-to-back wins in the Grade 1 Ballerina in August 2019 at Saratoga Race Course before winning the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom back at Belmont. She capped her campaign with a sixth-place effort in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita. In this year's edition, she will face divisional contenders Gamine and Serengeti Empress among a formidable nine-horse field.

Martin said she handled the ship well from New York to the Bluegrass State, where she posted a three-furlong blowout in 36 seconds flat over Keeneland's main track on Sunday.

“She seems like she's handling her time at Keeneland and she's enjoying herself. Her coat looks great,” Martin said. “My team has done a great job helping me to get her to this point, so I'm really happy about everything.”

A great career almost was derailed after her winning debut as a juvenile in November 2016 at the Big A. Working toward her potential stakes debut in the Grade 2 Demoiselle she suffered a fractured pastern in her right front leg. Come Dancing did not race again until 13 months later, when she bested allowance company in December 2017 at Aqueduct.

That came as a relief to Holliday, who is a NYRA Board Member and the Chairman and CEO of SL Green Realty Corp, a New York City commercial real estate firm.

“I was fairly optimistic that she would race again,” Holliday said to the Thoroughbred Daily News last year. “The question was would she race up to her potential because we knew she had a ton of potential. She had a brilliant first race. To do what she's done since the injury is a testament to her grit and toughness and her ability to rebound from that injury.”

Come Dancing not only rebounded from that setback, she thrived, and that success continued in her current campaign, which included a second-place effort in the Grade 3 Vagrancy over a Belmont track rated good on Belmont Stakes Day in June and her first win of 2020 last out with a three-quarter-length score in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap over Lady's Island in the six-furlong sprint at Saratoga on September 6.

The millionaire mare will retire to become a broodmare following Saturday's race, but she has one more chance to compete at the highest level during the Breeders' Cup World Championships. She drew post 3 with jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., who was aboard for the Honorable Miss, back in the irons. She is listed at 8-1 on the morning line with Gamine from post 2 the 7-5 favorite.

“It's bittersweet because it's her last dance, but she's been so good to us, so we just want to see her go off on a high note and show the world what she can do on the biggest stage, so we're excited for the opportunity,” Martin said. “I think the post should be fine. She usually breaks pretty well. With Serengeti and Gamine going out there, she should be able to find a spot. I don't think there's a chance of us going up there with them [as a pacesetter], but I'll let Irad ride the race and hopefully have them set the table for us.

“We have a champion jockey and I think the instructions kind of go out the window in a race like this,” he added.

A victory would give both Martin and Holliday their first respective career wins in a Breeders' Cup. It would also allow Come Dancing to follow in the path of past champions with a sunset ride enmeshed in glory.

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Attard Hoping To ‘Savor The Moment’ With Rags-To-Riches Breeders’ Cup Contender Starship Jubilee

It didn't take long for trainer Kevin Attard to understand that some folks at Keeneland appreciate Starship Jubilee, his 7-year-old mare with the rags-to-riches story, who will run in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Twice claimed early in her career, the Florida-bred has developed into a star with Attard. Twelve of her 19 career wins in 38 starts have come in stakes. Two of those victories were in Grade 1 races, including the most recent, the Woodbine Mile against males Sept. 19.

“As soon as she hit the track there were a couple of people out there and they said, 'Hey Starship Jubilee. I'm rooting for you,' “Attard said. “It's nice to hear and you really kind of savor that moment and realize that the following and the backing that she has generated over the years.”

Attard and his partner Soli Mehta claimed Starship Jubilee for $16,000 in February 2017 at Gulfstream. Attard's father, Tino, was the trainer of record when she reeled off three straight wins at Gulfstream in March and April. Moved to Woodbine in suburban Toronto and officially in the care of Kevin Attard, Starship Jubilee promptly won two Grade 2 races, the Nassau and the Dance Smartly. The one-time mediocre turf sprinter thrived in routes on grass.

In 29 races – never at less than a mile – she has compiled a 16-4-3 record in 29 starts and earned $2,052,519. She has won three Sovereign Awards as the top Canadian turf female and is Canada's reigning Horse of the Year.

In November 2018, Attard and Mehta offered the then-5-year-old mare for sale at auction at Keeneland. When bidding stopped at $425,000, below her reserve price, the owners decided to continue racing her. Within a day, though, they completed a sale with Bonnie Baskin's Blue Heaven Farm, a Versailles, Kentucky, commercial breeding farm managed by her son Adam Corndorf.

Attard suggested that Blue Heaven run the mare a few more times before being bred to Medaglia d'Oro in 2019. That mating ended up being put on hold for two seasons as she has won eight of 13 starts and earned more than $1.5 million. This year, Starship Jubilee has won five of six starts, including the Ballston Spa at Saratoga, a race that included champion Sistercharlie. After running fourth in the Diana — her first time off the board since December 2018 — at Saratoga on Aug. 23, she rebounded with the 1-length victory in the Woodbine Mile.

“Huge win, beating the boys in the Woodbine Mile,” Attard said. “It was a pretty gutsy performance on her part. She ran really well. She came out of the race in good shape. She's training great.

“It was a decision to either run against the males here in the Breeders' Cup Mile or in the Filly and Mare Turf at a mile and three-sixteenths against fillies. We elected to take the filly route. The mile and three-sixteenths should be up in her wheel house. She's been going a mile and a quarter. No race is easy, that's for sure.”

The post Attard Hoping To ‘Savor The Moment’ With Rags-To-Riches Breeders’ Cup Contender Starship Jubilee appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Haiku Handicapper Presented By Form2Win: 2020 Breeders’ Cup Classic

Time to analyze the 2020 Breeders' Cup Classic field, in post position order, in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.

To read previous editions of The Haiku Handicapper, click here.

#1 – Tacitus
A frustrating case
Loves to almost win races
Gotta be due, right?

#2 – Tiz the Law
Could the crop's top horse
Be under the radar here?
His price could be fair

#3 – By My Standards
Few are more honest
Extra furlong's the question
Big price if he can

#4 – Tom's d'Etat
Classic Stall patience
Or did that nightmare Whitney
Snuff his momentum?

#5 – Title Ready
Shouldn't have a prayer
But the Dallas Stewart factor
Keeps him on notice

#6 – Higher Power
Struggled to break through
In the West Coast's shallow ranks
Needs his all-time best

#7 – Global Campaign
Trending the right way
Might have been my Dirt Mile pick
Less imposing here

#8 – Improbable
Once a cash burner
Now could be Baffert's best shot
Just keeps improving

#9 – Authentic
How he'll fare depends
On what's left in his reserves
From his Preakness war

#10 – Maximum Security
A rocky career
Approaches its conclusion
Feels like a bounce risk

Prediction
2020's weird
Let's give it to Tacitus
Eight, four, two follow

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